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Victoria’s Secret, a lingerie retailer founded by Roy Raymond in 1977, is the largest retailer in women’s intimate apparel in North America. Nevertheless, the business has been under fire in the recent past for failing to be inclusive and diverse, declining revenues and engaging in high-profile controversies. Victoria's Secret has experienced competition from emerging lingerie brands including Savage X Fenty, which Rihanna established in 2018, ThirdLove and Aerie by American Eagle & Knix. Victoria's Secret tried to reinvent itself in reaction to these difficulties by altering its marketing approach, switching out its “angels” for more diversified models, and launching a new range of cozy, informal loungewear. However, there were conflicting reactions to these initiatives, and the company's sales have been declining.

Executive training programs, upper level undergraduate and graduate MBA students in strategic, marketing and general management. Students should understand the basics of strategic management and marketing before undertaking to analyse this case.

The author conducted this interview about film, pedagogy, and praxis with filmmaker and sociologist Dr Garry Potter in May 2023. Potter is the author of Dystopia: What Is to Be Done? (2010, New Revolution Press), The Philosophy of Social Science: New Perspectives (2017, Routledge), and The Bet: Truth in Science, Literature, and Everyday Knowledges (2020, Routledge). He is also the writer, producer, and director of more than 20 films, including: Luxury Eco-Communism (2020), Sociology at the End of the World (2018), Contract Faculty: Injustice in the University (2016), Ideology: Marx, Althusser, Gramsci (2015), Marx's Theory of Alienation and Species Being (2013), and Whispers of Revolution (2012). This interview covers, inter alia, Potter's background and intellectual biography, his training as a theorist and filmmaker, and his reflections on film both as educational tool and vehicle for social change.

The purpose of this study is to explore the COVID-19 responses of Australian public universities, specifically the actions and measures taken to assist staff, students and the wider community.

The study uses widely used content analysis to investigate the measures taken by these universities to support staff, students and the broader community, based on data from 37 Australian public universities’ published websites.

The findings show that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian public universities provided immediate assistance to students, faculty and the community. As part of their unanticipated COVID pandemic, they implemented online teaching, financial assistance, mental health support and COVID-19-related initiatives. In comparison to non-Go8 universities, the Group of Eight (Go8) universities demonstrated greater resources in delivering these initiatives.

Given the integral role of universities in the Australian economy and society, this research contributes to our understanding of how these institutions navigate unprecedented COVID-19 situations while considering the needs of staff, students and the broader community.

Universities in Australia have played an important role in the economy and society of the country. This paper is one of the first to look at how Australian universities were dealing with the unprecedented COVID-19 situation while taking into account all stakeholders, including staff, students and society.

This paper aims to compare the effects of social procurement policies on companies in the Victorian and Scottish construction industries. Scotland and Victoria have led the way in the recent revival of social procurement.

Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 27 organisations and 28 participants who have experience of implementing social procurement policies into the construction industries of both jurisdictions.

Findings contribute important new comparative insights from multiple stakeholder perspectives, into the effects of social procurement policies on firms operating in the construction industries of the two jurisdictions. Findings indicate an increasing awareness of social procurement in the construction industries of both Scotland and Victoria. However, differences in policy design determine the nature and extent of this awareness, the level of empowerment felt by actors and the social impact these new policies have in practice. It is concluded that to maximise the social impact of social procurement policies into major industries like construction, policymakers need to carefully consider supply-side limitations, the political context into which social procurement is being implemented and the way they prescribe what types of social value they want to create and for whom.

Successful social procurement policy implementation into the construction industry can have significant positive social implications for the communities in which the industry builds due to the large numbers of people it employs and its large multiplier effect into the wider economy.

By investigating the effects of social procurement policies on a cross-section of organisations from across the construction industry supply chain, this international study, contributes new comparative insights to the emerging bodies of research on the impact of public procurement on companies in major industries like construction.

Drawing on crisis management theory and complexity theory, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of a prolonged COVID-19 induced lockdown on tourism small and medium enterprise (SME) operators’ well-being.

A mixed methods approach was used, with survey data from 226 SME tourism operators located in Victoria (Australia) and 33 interviews with a cross-representative selection of tourism stakeholders.

The findings of this study show that planned resilience, adaptive resilience, government communication (i.e. Roadmap to Recovery announcement) and revenue status are positively linked to well-being.

The cross-sectional nature of this study is not able to provide evidence of a temporal relationship between exposure and outcome, as both are examined at the same time. This study is restricted to one Australian State and may have limited generalisability.

The findings identify strategies to improve tourism SMEs resilience and their operator well-being. Programs designed to meet the needs of tourism SME owners and enhance access to well-being services, while training for SME tourism operators should focus on improving the diversification potential of the business.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first studies applying crisis management and complexity theories as theoretical lenses to explore the joint effect of organisational resilience and government communication on SME tourism operators’ well-being. The inclusion of communication on SME well-being is an area hitherto unexplored in the tourism literature.

Although our understanding of mental health and well-being is continually evolving, certain populations such as individuals deprived of liberty remain understudied and stigmatized. Despite ongoing research in various countries, mental health exploration in Chile lags behind nations like the USA. Recognizing this gap, this study aims to address this disparity by analyzing subjective well-being and mental health levels within a Chilean prison setting in the postpandemic context.

Design was nonexperimental, cross-sectional, descriptive and relational using quantitative techniques. Data was collected using Ryff and brief DASS-21 scales into three different sections of the studied prison. In total, 97 people participated. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis.

Levels of subjective well-being range from mild to low, with best scores in environmental mastery and worst in autonomy. Women obtained best scores on purpose in life and positive relations with others. Mental health levels measured in terms of anxiety, depression and stress showed worst levels in males. A positive correlation was observed between mental health and substance use and between mental health and violence.

Answers depend on the victim's report, which is biased by its interpretation, along with fearing consequences from the answers and distrust in authorities. This can lead to altered (unrealistic) values in relation to substance use, violence suffered and levels of subjective well-being, among others. Another limitation is the number of participants of this study, along with the fact that it was carried out in only one penitentiary center in Chile.

A challenge and a practical implication of this study is the need to do more work to promote mental health and well-being. Specifically, within this limited context where survey can send bias responses, a challenge is to work and promote mental health from a gender a perspective.

Results presented here also highlight the relevance of studying in depth prisoners’ mental health, considering gender differences across well-being and mental health variables. Moreover, it shows the importance and urgence to advance in respecting human rights, as democratic and diverse societies, and in terms of ethical aspects linked to research of this type in vulnerable populations like prisoners.

This study contributes to the understanding on the intricated interplay between subjective well-being, mental health and various factors within prison environments, offering valuable insights for targeted interventions and policy considerations.

The New Zealand city of Christchurch provides a leading example of post-disaster rebuilding in a Central Business District (CBD) area. In its rebuilding programme, the city has given emphasis to the greening of hospitality and traditional retail space through a combination of development of shared pedestrian spaces (with traffic exclusion and calming) and the integration of greening within the streetscape design. This paper aims to assess whether the development of greened pedestrian areas leads to higher retail spending and, thus, retail rental rates.

This study uses pedestrian movement data collected from several CBD locations, as well as spending data on retail and hospitality, to assess relationships between pedestrian movements and spending. This study explores retail spending in greened pedestrian shared spaces, and explores how this differs from retail spending in traditional street areas within the Christchurch CBD.

Spending patterns are location-related, depending on the characteristics of pedestrian space in the selected area. Greened shared pedestrian areas have the highest spending per measured pedestrian for retail and hospitality, whereas traditional street areas have lower spending for retail and hospitality per measured pedestrian, demonstrating the benefits in redeveloped central city areas.

The scope of smart data continues to develop as a research area within urban studies to develop an open and connected city. This research demonstrates the use of innovative technologies for data collection, use and sharing. The results support commercial benefits of greening and pedestrianisation of retail and hospitality areas for CBDs and providing an example for other cities to follow.

This paper provides an insight into the left and career of the sculptress Victoria Claire, told in her own words.

This is a lived experience narrative.

Diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of 19, Victoria’s life was turned upside down. Plunged into the depths of despair, it was her love for and practice of sculpture and music which saved her and gave her purpose. Years of therapy have helped her to understand and love herself as beautiful imperfection.

The vast majority of us inhabit a “sighted world”. Victoria helps us to understand how many of the things we take for granted are so much harder for the visually impaired.

We all need to be sensitive to helping those with sensory difficulties navigate our social world.

When you look at the amazing sculptures that Victoria creates, you cannot help but be impressed that she can create such works of art using her hands, her sculpting tools and her imagination. We can gaze at the beauty of her creations. She cannot.

This study aims to examine Victorian primary school parents’ perspectives about a potential school-provided lunch program (LP).

An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in Victoria, Australia, in 2022 to explore parents’ perceptions regarding the lunch menu, funding source, amount willing to pay, frequency of meals and special dietary needs of a school-provided LP.

Over half of parents (57% out of 359) said they would allow their child to participate in a school LP, 34% were unsure and only 9% said they would not. The opportunity for hot cooked lunches at school and the perceived convenience for parents were the top two reasons for favouring such a program. Fifty-eight percent were in favour of hybrid-type funding from both the government and parents. The most preferred amount to pay per meal was AUD5-6 (43%), followed by AUD3-4 (25%). Parents expected meals to be healthy and made from whole food and cater to the special dietary and cultural needs of their children. They also expected enough time to be allocated so children could eat and enjoy the meals.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore Victorian parents’ perceptions regarding the above aspects of a school-provided LP. The findings suggest that parents are receptive to a school-provided LP; they, however, did have several expectations regarding the menu and time for eating. These findings provide important directions for designing future school-provided LPs at primary schools in Australia.

Victoria is one of the most diverse states in Australia. With emerging refugee communities such as the Chin community, it is important to consider steps to support and increase productivity of Chin community members to be active citizens. This study therefore aims to understand one of the most essential and fundamental aspect of living a productive life: Wellbeing.

Through the review of previous literature on refugees’ wellbeing including Chin people around the world, an interview method prevailed as the ideal method of data collection. A total of five active Chin community leaders across south-east and north-west of Melbourne were recruited as participants to represent more than ten thousand Chin(s) residing in Melbourne. Through the assistant of guiding questions prepared by the researcher, participants were interviewed individually via Zoom.

Responses across the five participants produce similarity yet unique results. Findings shows that a complete positive state of wellbeing is still a working process for settling Chin community members as negative appears to outweigh positive factors. Nonetheless, it is recommended that community workers, local councils and government to further strengthen their assistant and support in barriers and issues impacting the overall health and wellbeing of Chin community members.

The sample in this study strictly focuses on the responses of five Chin community leaders and workers across Victoria and therefore it is difficult to generalise about the impact on the overall Chin community population in Melbourne. The majority of participants in this research revealed that they wore more than one hat in their service to the Chin community. For example, some community leaders were also serving as active and current volunteers and leaders in their Church groups. Due to this, it is uncertain whether this impacted the responses of participants such as prioritising religious perspectives above community perspectives.

Future studies will be appreciated to build on this research to further elaborate and identify other elements of wellbeing that could increase productivity and participation amongst Chin community members to improve their overall wellbeing.